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The billionaire Twitter and Tesla owner visited the Capitol earlier this year to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Tag: Capitol
Elon Musk is back on Capitol Hill and meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Proud Boy who helped ignite Capitol breach tells jury he got “caught up” in Jan. 6 chaos
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Pezzola would subsequently enter the Capitol — arriving at the precise moment that Sen. Chuck Grassley, then the third in line to the presidency, was being evacuated. And he would record a video celebrating the breach of the Capitol that has been a key piece of evidence for prosecutors in the seditious conspiracy trial against Pezzola and four Proud Boys leaders: Enrique Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl.
In addition to seditious conspiracy, the five men are charged with attempting to obstruct Congress’ proceedings that day and aiding in the destruction of government property.
Pezzola used the early portion of his testimony to separate himself from the group’s leadership.
“The craziest damn thing is I never even knew these guys before I met them at the courthouse,” Pezzola said.
Pezzola’s turn on the stand is a climactic moment for the trial, and potentially the last before the four-month-long trial goes to the jury. Prosecutors have portrayed the Proud Boys as a sinister force on Jan. 6, plotting to do whatever they could to disrupt the transfer of power from Trump — who they viewed as an ally — to President Joe Biden. Trump’s call for a “wild” protest in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 was the moment the group’s leaders decided to take measures to help Trump disrupt the incoming Biden presidency, prosecutors have alleged.
The group also took a sharp turn against police in mid-December 2020, when four members of the Proud Boys were stabbed outside a bar following a pro-Trump event and the alleged perpetrator was not apprehended, prosecutors contended.
The case relied heavily on thousands of Telegram messages sent among members of the group describing their intentions and coordinating rallies and protests related to the election results. They also showed ample video of the group’s movements in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6. The government’s key witness in the case, Proud Boy leader Jeremy Bertino, testified that he knew the group’s goal was to derail the transfer of power, even though there were no explicit plans relayed to the group’s broader membership.
The defense has contended that the group’s role has been inflated, that they’re more akin to a drinking club whose members use a lot of hyperbole and overheated language that they didn’t intend to back up.
Pezzola’s testimony — expected to last at least deep into Wednesday — continued in that vein. He said he viewed the Proud Boys as a forum for camaraderie and brotherhood, not a force for violence. He said that on Jan. 6, he never had any inkling of a plan or conspiracy to stop Congress from convening to count electoral votes.
He acknowledged trespassing and crossing police lines at least twice. And he admitted that he shattered “one pane of glass” of the Senate window. But after that, he said, he “wandered around lost with no idea where I was going, took some pictures.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )Authorities lock down California Capitol after ‘credible threat’
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Legislators and their staff huddled inside offices for several hours Thursday after police warned of a “credible threat” against the California Capitol from a man police said had fired on a nearby hospital the night before.
The California Highway Patrol said they were searching for the man suspected of firing on a Kaiser Permanente hospital building in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville and had made threats that prompted the lockdown of the Capitol and the postponement of a legislative floor session. No injuries were reported from the shooting, officials said.
Police did not provide details about the threat to the Capitol, which also resulted in the cancelation of two committee hearings.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )Capitol Police officer who sought to protect Jan. 6 rioter sentenced to home incarceration
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Still, Jackson said Riley’s lengthy career — unblemished before Jan. 6 — his lack of criminal history and the consequences he already suffered, from his forced retirement to the loss of his department-issued dog, justified the sentence of home confinement. Prosecutors had initially sought a sentence of 27 months in prison for Riley’s conduct, saying his status as a police officer exacerbated the seriousness of his actions.
It’s the close of a complicated and wrenching chapter in the arc of Jan. 6 prosecutions. Riley was convicted last year of obstruction of justice for deleting his Facebook messages. The jury deadlocked on a second obstruction charge related to his contact with Hiles.
Riley’s arrest in October 2021 followed intense, but so far unsupported, concerns among members of Congress that some Capitol Police officers may have sympathized with and even assisted the Jan. 6 mob at the Capitol.
Riley is the only officer who has faced charges stemming from his actions following the Jan. 6 attack. There’s no evidence he assisted the mob on Jan. 6 — and in fact the evidence suggests he acted “honorably” in responding to the riot, Jackson emphasized.
Jackson said it was not entirely clear why Riley chose to aid Hiles — and not any other rioter — but said he seemed enamored of Hiles, whom he didn’t know personally before Jan. 6 but who shared a passion for fishing. Riley and Hiles were active in the same social media groups for fishing enthusiasts, and Riley noticed Jan. 7 that Hiles had posted about being inside the Capitol.
He soon struck up a Facebook conversation with Hiles and urged him to delete parts of his posts that mentioned he went inside the building. Investigators, Riley noted, would be searching for and arresting anyone who went inside. Riley maintained contact with Hiles for nearly two weeks, even after he was arrested Jan. 19, 2021. After Hiles told Riley that the FBI seemed interested in their contact, Riley deleted his own communications with Hiles and sent Hiles a concocted excuse to cut off contact.
“Talk about a complete lie,” Jackson said.
The case drew sharply polarized reactions from Riley’s family, friends and colleagues. He retired from the Capitol Police within months of the charges and indicated in court Thursday that many of his former colleagues had cut off contact with him. Aquilino Gonell, a Capitol Police officer who was assaulted by members of the mob Jan. 6 and has become an outspoken advocate for prosecuting members of the mob, called him a “turncoat.”
But Jackson also acknowledged that Riley had a history of heroism on the Capitol Police force, on multiple occasions saving the lives of fellow officers or providing aid amid crisis. He saved the life of a fellow officer who was knocked unconscious during a 2011 blizzard and had stopped breezing. He was also one of the first to respond to a vehicle attack against officers in April 2021 — three months after the Jan. 6 attack — and provided aid to a downed officer, Billy Evans, who later died of his injuries.
Complicating the matter further, Riley is suffering from an undisclosed autoimmune illness that requires complicated treatments, details of which were disclosed to Jackson under seal. She acknowledged the illness in her sentencing and emphasized that he was permitted to leave his home for medical reasons.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )Prosecutors seek lengthiest Jan. 6 sentence yet for rioter who pinned officer in Capitol doorway
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McCaughey’s restraint of D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges in a Capitol doorway is one of the most recognizable and horrifying images of the violence that day. McCaughey’s restraint of Hodges lasted more than two minutes while other rioters disarmed the officer, removed his gas mask and ignored his screams or help. Images of McCaughey face-to-face with Hodges became a symbol of the brutality of the Jan. 6 riot. It occurred in the Capitol’s lower west terrace tunnel, where many of the most violent confrontations that day took place.
“The defendant’s actions on January 6 show an absolute disregard for the rule of law coupled with a willingness to incite and engage in violence,” Paschall wrote. “The nature and circumstances of this defendant’s crimes weigh heavily towards a significant term of incarceration.”
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden convicted McCaughey of nine charges — including three counts of assaulting police and obstruction of Congress’ Jan. 6 proceedings — at a bench trial in September 2022. He has characterized McCaughey’s actions as particularly horrific, even compared to other rioters who participated in some of the same violent attacks. But McFadden has also repeatedly rejected prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations, often disagreeing with their calculations and proposed enhancements. Prosecutors indicated in their sentencing memo that they anticipate him disagreeing with them once again.
Still, DOJ’s recommendation is the second-steepest it has made in any Jan. 6 case so far, trailing only the 17.5-year sentence it recommended for Thomas Webster, a former New York Police Department officer who brutally assaulted an officer on the front lines of the riot. Webster is currently serving a 10-year sentence, the longest of any handed down to a Jan. 6 defendant so far, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta. Mehta viewed Webster’s conduct as particularly egregious and also concluded that Webster lied on the stand when he testified about it.
The recommendation for McCaughey surpasses the 15-year sentence the Justice Department recommended for Guy Reffitt, the first Jan. 6 rioter convicted by a jury. Reffitt, a militia member, planned for violence with associates ahead of Jan. 6, carried a firearm and engaged with police in a lengthy standoff that enabled the mob to start amassing at the base of the Capitol. Ultimately, the judge in his case, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich, sentenced Reffitt to just over seven years in prison.
Prosecutors say McCaughey, like Webster, was dishonest when he testified in his own trial last year. In addition to his lack of candor on the stand, prosecutors say McCaughey’s recommended sentence was influenced by the brutality of his attack against Hodges and a second officer, Henry Foulds — who McCaughey struck with a riot shield as the officer tried to close the doors to the tunnel.
McCaughey, for his part, is arguing for a sentence of a year in prison, contending that his crimes on Jan. 6 were an “aberration” in an otherwise law-abiding life.
“Although his conduct is indeed serious, it represents the only legal transgression this hard-working person has ever committed,” his attorney, Dennis Boyle wrote in a 25-page sentencing memo. “It is also significant to note that his actions were not motivated by any desire for personal financial gain or any other type of benefit. Rather, his actions, which he himself admits were reprehensible, were motivated by a misunderstanding as to the facts surrounding the 2020 election.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )Kevin McCarthy’s blame game sweeps Capitol Hill
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Instead of owning up to failure, McCarthy appears to be looking for a scapegoat.
Behind the scenes, he’s been trash-talking his own GOP colleagues, according to a blockbuster New York Times story Thursday by Jonathan Swan and Annie Karni.
Among its revelations: McCarthy has “no confidence” in House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), whom he regards as “incompetent” and considers House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) “ineffective, checked out and reluctant to take a position on anything.”
Conversations with more than a half-dozen senior Republican lawmakers and aides revealed some additional context on the “Mean Girls” drama playing out in McCarthy’s leadership circle:
There’s a reason McCarthy is singling out Arrington and Scalise, and it’s about more than just disagreements over policy or strategy. People close to McCarthy tell us that he perceives both men as disloyal — and he’s known to hold a grudge.
McCarthy never forgave Scalise for an incident years ago when the Louisiana Republican refused to rule out challenging McCarthy for GOP leader, and he feels that Scalise didn’t do enough to help him win the gavel this year. As for Arrington, the Texas Republican privately floated Scalise for speaker when McCarthy was unable to lock down the votes for himself in January.
McCarthy’s issues with Arrington have been apparent for a while. Several weeks ago, when Arrington suggested Republicans wouldn’t introduce a budget until May, McCarthy pushed back and said they’d do so in April — leaving Arrington’s staff scrambling to clean up the mess.
Something similar happened when Arrington told reporters that Republicans were finalizing a debt ceiling offer of sorts, what he dubbed a “deal sheet,” for Biden. “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” McCarthy shot back when asked about Arrington’s comments.
That jab caught several senior Republicans off guard, not just because McCarthy was publicly rebuking one of his own chairs but because the speaker was, in fact, already crafting an opening offer of sorts to Biden that was soon publicly released.
McCarthy’s defenders say that Arrington, a fiscal conservative with a reputation for wanting to move quickly, is stirring up trouble in the conference. They argue that McCarthy has to protect his frontliners and that Arrington hasn’t been sensitive enough to their political needs. They also note that some in the GOP leadership have been unimpressed with Arrington’s private budget presentations.
But Arrington’s defenders say it’s unfair for McCarthy to blame him. They note that it’s odd for the speaker to call him “incompetent” despite repeatedly asking him to give presentations on fiscal matters to Republicans at both the House GOP leadership retreat earlier this year and the full GOP conference retreat in Orlando a few days ago. (At the latter, there was little pushback on a menu of options Arrington presented, and some members even stood to praise his proposals.)
Another Arrington defender noted that GOP leadership is typically involved in drafting the budget given how difficult it can be to muster support on the chamber floor — especially with a slim, five-seat majority like the Republicans currently have. And yet McCarthy has given little guidance to Arrington, according to a senior GOP aide.
“Jodey has been working in good faith, and has largely been hamstrung by Kevin,” the aide said. “They need someone else to blame.”
Republicans we spoke to found McCarthy’s lack of pushback on the Times story to be quite conspicuous. McCarthy, they note, rarely speaks ill of his members in meetings, and if he does, it rarely leaks. His paltry response did not go unnoticed.
“He made a bunch of promises during the speaker race that were always untenable, but he made them anyway,” one senior Republican said. “At a certain point, a lot of that stuff is going to collide, and he’s getting nervous and looking for others to blame.”
Senior Republicans always knew that passing a budget with a slim majority was going to be difficult. But the interesting part of all this palace intrigue is that it’s not factions inside the rank and file causing the problems; it’s McCarthy’s own leadership team that’s in disarray.
That doesn’t bode well for House Republicans’ budget efforts — or their bid to extract concessions from Biden on the debt ceiling. And without a unified GOP front, Democrats won’t take Republican demands for spending cuts seriously.
“Allies of @SpeakerMcCarthy trying to cast blame on others — before there is any actual blame to cast — doesn’t instill confidence House Rs are ready for primetime,” The Washington Post’s Paul Kane tweeted Thursday.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )Tim Scott’s Capitol Hill fans question his chances in 2024
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“Tim Scott is going to have a very appealing story and message,” added the Florida Republican, whose 2016 campaign Scott endorsed. “But again, sometimes the environment determines whether that’s what people are looking for. And who knows where we’re going to be a year from now.”
Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee, was more pointed in his assessment of Scott: “The Trump lane, the anti-Trump lane, the more-than MAGA, I don’t think he fits in those things.”
The uncertainty over whether Scott can sell what Romney called “his own vision” sums up his unique place in the potential 2024 field: embodying optimism in a party more prone to elevating partisan fighters and grievance politics. Scott is the unquestionable primary frontrunner among fellow GOP senators who see him harkening back to the Ronald Reagan years — but the party’s base last responded to that tone in significant numbers when Reagan himself was on the ballot.
Still, Scott’s advisers bet that his hopeful authenticity will be his ticket to the Oval Office. Scott, the lone Black Republican in the Senate, talks often about his own life story, as well as his faith. But he’s also doing less and less unscripted talking as he edges closer to a White House campaign launch: Scott recently stopped doing hallway interviews with reporters, often a telling sign of a future presidential candidate looking to more tightly control his message.
While most of his fellow senators expect him to eventually jump in, Scott is keeping his plans close among a small circle of advisers. For now, his colleagues are hesitant to place him in a specific lane — even potential endorsers-in-waiting like Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz).
Schweikert praised Scott but said he isn’t sure if voters are looking for what the senator would offer: “Is there a constituency that wants someone conservative but that still believes in the country?” the Arizonan asked in an interview.
Trump’s indictment on charges related to a hush-money payment to a porn actress may yet shake up the GOP primary electorate, carving out space for a less polarizing contender. But for the moment, the Republican electorate is split between two men quite focused on grievance and culture wars: Trump and his chief potential primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
As Romney put it: “There are a number of voters who are tired of all the sturm und drang and the anger and the vituperative comments. On the other hand, the base is still with folks who are adept at those things.”
Scott would enter the race as a staunch conservative. The right-leaning group Heritage Action currently gives him an 84 percent on its scorecard, higher than the average GOP senator. He also has an “A” rating from Gun Owners of America, a 100 percent rating from National Right to Life and an “A” from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. He’s known as a defense hawk, most recently opposing a measure that cut off approval for the Iraq War. Scott also backed a Ukraine aid package in May.
While Scott supported bipartisan criminal justice reform, he’s voted against several major bipartisan bills in the past two years, including a $550 billion infrastructure package, a gun safety proposal, same-sex marriage protections and last year’s government funding deal.
The South Carolina Republican is perhaps best known for his work on opportunity zones, a bipartisan proposal included in Republicans’ 2017 tax cut law that offered tax breaks to wealthy individuals who invest in certain designated areas. The program was originally designed to boost low-income communities; Scott is expected to tout it, if he ends up running for president.
Although proponents of the program argue it brings an influx of private investment to economically distressed areas, Democrats and academics have dinged opportunity zones as mainly geared to help places that are already gentrifying.
In addition to opportunity zones, Scott’s a big proponent of expanding charter schools and giving parents public money to allow them to pay for tuition at private schools. He also played a central role in police reform negotiations with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), which fell apart amid disagreements over qualified immunity and other policies. The two have also partnered on anti-lynching legislation, which became law last year, and a law that changed certain sentencing guidelines.
“We’ve worked to do everything from help expand sickle cell anemia funding to working on funding for [historically black colleges or universities],” Booker said. “Obviously, I’ve had frustrations, but in terms of just productivity he’s one of my more productive partners.”
Scott is also getting extra visibility of late as as the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. As Congress scrutinizes the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Scott hasn’t raced to propose any specific policy response.
Instead, he has focused on committee oversight efforts and pressing regulators on what went wrong. He’s blamed the bank’s downfall on the Federal Reserve for supervision lapses and the Biden administration for policies that may have contributed to inflation and rate hikes.
Scott has hosted so-called listening tours in Iowa and South Carolina as he prepares for a potential run, and he’s planning to hold a donor summit in Charleston in April. Even as some Republicans like fellow South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham say that Scott would be a strong vice presidential candidate, his advisers insist that’s not the end goal.
Should he enter the GOP presidential primary, it would be his toughest race to date. Scott’s closest Senate election was in 2016, when he won by about 24 points. Recent 2024 polls show him at only 1 or 2 percent, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s presidential bid is also a complicating factor. Yet Scott’s also proven a prolific fundraiser, with nearly $22 million cash on hand and strong support from Republican donors like Oracle’s Larry Ellison.
“I think they all got a slim chance,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who has endorsed Trump. “President Trump and DeSantis are the two guys, they would really have to run into a brick wall for somebody else to nudge them out. Now, anything can happen, but that’s the reason you run.”
Zachary Warmbrodt, Brian Faler, Michael Stratford and Natalie Allison contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )It’s Maryland vs. Virginia on Capitol Hill, with billions on the line
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Leading the push for a Virginia-based FBI are the state’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. Warner, in discussing the “ferocious debate,” referred to Hoyer in the practiced and professional tones of a heavyweight rival in a boxing match with thousands of jobs on the line.
“I’ve got great respect for Mr. Hoyer, and I’m anxious that the process proceed,” Warner said. “We’ve got criteria, we made our last and best final offers last week and I feel good about where Virginia stands.”
The FBI headquarters face-off has stoked fierce divisions among two congressional delegations that interact more than nearly every other pair of states, excepting the Dakotas or Carolinas. Yet it’s not the only fresh fault line between Virginia and Maryland, whose Democratic senators split over disapproving a progressive D.C. crime law, with the former duo backing the rollback and the latter backing the D.C. Council.
Then, of course, there are the standard tension points: bragging rights over the Chesapeake’s famous blue crab and football (the Virginia Cavaliers are set to take on the Maryland Terrapins this fall).
The FBI battle has dramatically intensified recently, ever since Marylanders learned that Virginia would have at least one leg up in the process. That’s because the agency leading the headquarters hunt, the General Services Administration, plans to weigh the two sites’ proximity to the FBI academy in Quantico, Va., as a larger part of its overall decision.
“This goes beyond a rivalry,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “This is about the mission of the FBI and getting the taxpayers the best deal.” But Van Hollen made one point clear: “The oyster wars, that was part of our longstanding rivalry. Just for the record, Maryland won the oyster wars.”
Members of the two Senate delegations, all of them Democrats, insist though that they agree on more than they disagree, highlighting their work together on WMATA funding, H-2B visas and their support for federal employees.
“Generally, we’re together more than not,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “I have the utmost respect for my two colleagues from Virginia.”
Still, the competition is stiff for the FBI building. Hoyer, the former House majority leader, is perhaps the most fervent FBI-to-Maryland booster of all. He recently drove to Virginia’s proposed headquarters site in Springfield, snapping cell phone photos to help make his case.
More than a decade after then-FBI director Robert Mueller first walked into his office to discuss the subject, Hoyer estimated in an interview that he spends about one-fifth of his time per week on the new headquarters. He’s worked with Wes Moore, Maryland’s rising-star governor, to deploy every possible resource on their state’s behalf, including personal pleas to Biden and the new White House chief of staff, Marylander Jeff Zients.
The Free State’s pitch is bolstered by the NAACP as well as civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, centered on a push for equity that Black community advocates say is critical for Prince George’s County — and for Biden’s own reelection.
And that pressure campaign has infuriated many Virginians, some of whom have quietly gone to the White House themselves with an entreaty to ignore it.
Things could soon get even nastier. Hoyer did not rule out flexing some of his power over the federal purse this fall if Maryland’s bid is rejected. He and Van Hollen are both the top Democrats on a spending panel that oversees funding for the very agency in charge of the headquarters search, the GSA.
“I don’t think we’d go quietly into that dark night,” Hoyer said when asked if he would try to influence the selection through his Appropriations Committee perch if Virginia wins. “Van Hollen and I will still be where we’ll be.”
Virginians, though, insist they wouldn’t let the FBI building clash derail another spending bill. The headquarters was one of the final hangups delaying passage of December’s government funding deal, with Hoyer in particular refusing to yield until he secured new language that helped keep Maryland’s bid alive.
Maryland’s stance shocked the Virginians, including Warner, who ultimately went to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to help end the standoff. Schumer eventually reached a deal with the two delegations.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who represents the Springfield site, responded coolly to Hoyer’s suggestion that another spending bill could hang in the balance: “Threats to retaliate against a professional decision made on the merits, I think, are unworthy of any senior member of Congress, and I hope will not work.”
Connolly himself has plenty of experience with Beltway-state squabbling that, as he put it, “goes back to King Charles.” As a top official in Fairfax County, he once got embroiled in a lawsuit between the two states over the location of a drinking water pipe that went all the way to the Supreme Court — which ultimately ruled for the Old Dominion.
He added that he’s disappointed by the “element of desperation” in Maryland’s jockeying during the last few months, particularly its case for diversity and equity — he pointed to the more than 100 languages spoken in Springfield.
Kaine, meanwhile, insisted that the fight for the FBI building is not an anomaly for the two states and described it as a “friendly competition.”
“I don’t view this as different than other instances where Maryland and Virginia have squared off,” Kaine said. “Virginia would love to have NIH. Virginia would love to have some of the intel agencies, the NSA in Maryland. I’m sure Maryland would love to have some of the things that are in Virginia.”
This time, however, the Hill is paying even more attention to the two states because they’re also home to two national political players in their respective parties: Moore and Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s Republican governor.
Moore and Youngkin have been planning to sit down together after they both won in November, according to a person familiar with the discussions. In the meantime, Moore challenged Youngkin to a one-on-one pickup basketball game to determine the FBI’s future hub. (When Youngkin didn’t respond, Moore accurately picked UVA to lose in the first upset of March Madness in his bracket. The Terps won the same day.)
While Virginia Democrats acknowledge it’s a bit awkward to root for handing Youngkin a big political win in the FBI building as he eyes a potential 2024 bid, they say a bipartisan approach is also critical. Kaine, Warner and Youngkin wrote a joint Washington Post op-ed on Thursday that made the case again for their state. And if Maryland makes any maneuvers in year-end spending bills, for instance, Youngkin could call on House GOP leaders to stop them.
Hoyer predicted Youngkin wouldn’t hesitate to use a potential FBI win on the campaign trail, whether he’s seeking his party’s presidential nod or a different prize. “I’m sure he would,” he said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are already looking ahead to what could be the next fight. The White House announced last week that Biden’s new disease-fighting agency, ARPA-H, will house its headquarters in the D.C. metro area.
Its location will be chosen by GSA.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )New law allows anti-abortion monument at Arkansas Capitol
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a new law that will allow a monument near the state Capitol marking the number of abortions performed in Arkansas before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
Sanders’ office said Friday night that the Republican governor signed the bill that will allow the creation of a privately funded “monument to the unborn” on the Capitol grounds. The bill, approved by lawmakers last week, requires the secretary of state to permit and arrange the placement of the monument.
It also requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to oversee the selection of the artist and the design of the monument, with input from anti-abortion groups.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )House GOP ignored Capitol Police requests to review public Jan. 6 footage, lawyer says
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The department is typically loath to appear at odds with House leaders in particular, since it relies on the majority party for its budget and are charged with protecting its members.
Last month Republicans started requesting the same footage that the Jan. 6 select committee had access to. Those requests came first from Tim Monahan — who doubles as a top aide to Speaker Kevin McCarthy and as a staff director for the House Administration Committee — and then from Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), the chair of that panel, which has jurisdiction over Capitol security.
Within days, DiBiase indicated, the Capitol Police installed three terminals in a House office building to grant access to the footage. And DiBiase said he also provided four hard drives he had received from the Democratic-led Jan. 6 panel after it completed its work.
“At no time was I nor anyone else from the Capitol Police informed that anyone other than personnel from [the House Administration Committee] would be reviewing the camera footage,” DiBiase indicated.
Later last month, media reports indicated that McCarthy had granted access to the footage to Carlson’s producers. DiBiase said he later learned that “personnel from the Tucker Carlson Show were allowed to view whatever footage they wanted while supervised by staff from [the House Administration Committee] but that no footage had been physically turned over to the show.”
A week later, Monahan requested a list of Capitol Police cameras that were deemed “sensitive” because they include details about evacuation routes or locations such as intelligence committee facilities.
“We worked with the Capitol Police ahead of time to identify any security-sensitive footage and made sure it wasn’t released,” said Mark Bednar, a spokesperson for McCarthy. “In subsequent conversations, the USCP General Counsel confirmed that the department concluded there are no security concerns with what was released.”
A GOP committee aide, asked about the statements in the affidavit, noted that the Republicans asked the Capitol Police for a list of security sensitive cameras “to ensure anything on the list requested by Tucker was approved by USCP, which we did.”
The aide added that Capitol Police “told us they had no concern with what was released,” but didn’t immediately respond to follow up questions about if that comment came before or after the footage aired on Fox, and if it applied to both the clip Capitol Police was able to review and those that they say they weren’t.
DiBiase emphasized that in “numerous conversations” over “several weeks,” he informed Monahan that the Capitol Police wanted “to review every footage clip, whether it was on the Sensitive List or not, if it was going to be made public.” The Jan. 6 select committee had gone through that process with the department “in all cases,” DiBiase said, as had federal prosecutors pursuing cases against hundreds of Capitol riot defendants.
“Of the numerous clips shown during the Tucker Carlson show on March 6 and 7, 2023, I was shown only one clip before it aired, and that clip was from the Sensitive List,” he continued. “Since that clip was substantially similar to a clip used in the Impeachment Trial and was publicly available, I approved the use of the clip. The other approximately 40 clips, which were not from the Sensitive List, were never shown to me nor anyone else from the Capitol Police.”
DiBiase left some key details about his interactions with the House Administration Committee unanswered. For example, he didn’t indicate whether anyone on the panel had agreed to his requests for a preview of the footage.
Notably, DiBiase indicated that the House managers of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 attack, who used about 15 Capitol security camera clips, did not preview them with the department before using them in the February 2021 proceedings. Those clips included “some from the Sensitive List.” The footnote caught the attention of Republicans who pointed to it on Friday, as an example of when Democrats had provided “zero consultation.”
Bednar also pointed to the impeachment trial footage and said House Republicans had taken more steps to protect security sensitive material than impeachment managers did.
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said in a statement earlier this month that he has little control over the footage once it’s provided to lawmakers.
Manger himself fiercely criticized Carlson and Fox News’ handling of the footage, saying it minimized the violence and chaos of Jan. 6 and portrayed Capitol Police officers’ actions in a “misleading” and “offensive” light.
DiBiase’s statement came in the case of William Pope, a Jan. 6 defendant who is representing himself and has moved to publicly release a trove of Jan. 6 security footage. Several other Jan. 6 defendants have cited Carlson’s access to the trove of footage in their own pending matters and said they intend to seek access. But, DiBiase noted in the affidavit, while Administration staff had said last week that no footage had been shown to any defendant or defense counsel, the Capitol Police had received additional requests to review the footage.
McCarthy’s decision to release the footage sparked weeks of questions for House Republicans. It’s also just the beginning of GOP lawmakers’ work to relitigate the attack, with the Administration Committee currently reviewing the previous Jan. 6 select committee’s work and promising to investigate Capitol security decisions leading up to the day. Meanwhile, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are planning a trip to visit the individuals jailed in connection with Jan. 6.
McCarthy has defended his decision to give access to the footage to Carlson, who has falsely portrayed the attack as nonviolent. The speaker and House Administration Committee members have pledged to release the footage more widely.
“I think putting it out all to the American public, you can see the truth, see exactly what transpired that day and everybody can have the exact same” access, McCarthy recently told reporters. “My intention is to release it to everyone.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
